A demonstrator holds a sign in favor of press freedom. File photo: AFP

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – There are nearly 100 violations committed against journalists every year in the Kurdistan Region, according to a media organization.

Between 2010 and 2018, the Kurdistan Syndicate of Journalists documented 757 violations against journalists in the four provinces of the Kurdistan Region.

The numbers break down as 347 incidents in Erbil, 285 in Sulaimani, 107 in Duhok, and 18 in Halabja.

November 2 is International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists.

The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that the situation in Iraq for journalists has “improved” in its annual ranking, but the country is still third on its Global Impunity Index that “spotlights countries where journalists are slain and their killers go free.”

Media is considered “not free” in Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Syria, according to monitor Freedom House.

In a statement marking the international day, the US Department of State noted concerns in Syria and Iraq where “media professionals have been killed for reporting on conflict with minimal consequences to their perpetrators.”

Journalists in Iran and Turkey, it said, “endure arbitrary detention for their reporting.”

The US administration of Donald Trump, however, has come under fire for labeling the press the “enemy of the people” and encouraging a global culture of impunity against journalists.